She stopped, frozen and stared, open-mouthed.
Then she asked in a voice dripping with horror, “You flew the plane?”
Understanding her reaction, Jack got close to reassure her. “Belle, I earned my pilot’s license when I was twenty. I’ve been flying for eighteen years.”
She blinked then repeated, “You flew the plane?”
“Belle –”
She cut him off, “Do you have, um… a qualified pilot with you?”
Jack again bit back laughter and explained, “I am a qualified pilot.”
“Yes, okay,” she replied swiftly. “But, when you fly, do you have another one, in case of emergencies?”
To win her trust, unfortunately, he had to be honest.
Therefore he answered, “No.”
“Oh goodness gracious,” she breathed.
“Belle –”
To his amused surprise, she shook her head sharply, put her hands over her ears and chanted. “La la la, not listening. This conversation didn’t happen. La la la.”
He noticed she had pink to her cheeks, either a reaction to her embarrassment at their conversation or her chanting of denial or both.
She dropped her hands and started walking again, her pace picking up significantly, her bearing stiff and uncomfortable looking.
He lengthened his strides to keep up thinking not only that he thoroughly enjoy seeing her blush, he’d never forget how adorable she was when she let her fear break down her guard.
His second mistake was only ten minutes later when he took her hand and slowed their pace.
Then he asked, “Have you hired another shop assistant?”
He felt her hand jerk in his and she looked up at him in surprise. “No, I haven’t had time.”
Jack looked down at her and enquired with what he thought was a good deal of patience, “I thought I explained I want you off the shop floor.”
Her eyes widened the moment before she bowed her head to study the rocky path they were traversing.
“You can’t hire a shop assistant in two days.”
“Yes, you can,” Jack replied because he knew you could.
She looked at him again, her eyes now narrowed with either annoyed confusion or confused annoyance, he couldn’t decide which.
Either one, Jack thought, on Belle was cute.
“No, you can’t,” she told him.
“I can,” he told her.
She stopped walking and started speaking. “Jack –”
He pulled at her hand and kept walking, taking her with him and, he thought, ending this particular conversation by saying, “I’ll call Olive. She’ll have someone at the shop tomorrow.”
She tugged at his hand to halt him but he ignored it and kept them moving.